I was talking this morning with my friend George, who lives on the south coast of England, and not for the first time he expressed disbelief that anyone can live in our American climate: first the earthquake on Tuesday, and then a pending hurricane!
He was astonished when I told him that people were camping out at Lowe's for generators, waiting in line for gas (I translated for him: "queuing for petrol"), and stocking up on water, batteries, ice, cash, and food that doesn't need refrigeration, all the suggested emergency preparedness stuff. Apparently they don't have sustained power outages over there.
George later said he mentioned this at his workplace and a lively conversation ensued. I think that many of the residents of Portsmouth must now think that we Americans are a bunch of hardy pioneers in the wilderness.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
Price beyond rubies
I've been a blood donor off and on since college, and when I donated earlier today I was struck by how the process has changed over the years. Now almost every step is computerized, complete with barcodes that they print out to label your paperwork and the blood bag.
What hasn't changed one bit is the value of what you give. If you've ever seen the miraculous improvement that a transfusion can produce in a very sick person, you understand. If you're eligible to give, it's really a generous thing to do, and the American Red Cross makes it very easy. You can locate a blood drive and sign up online, it absolutely doesn't hurt, the nurses are nice and skilled, the whole process takes only a few minutes, and you even get a snack afterward (I donated at the Jennersville Y, and the snacks were very kindly donated by Herrs).
Hint: Drink a lot of water ahead of time. It expedites the donation process.
What hasn't changed one bit is the value of what you give. If you've ever seen the miraculous improvement that a transfusion can produce in a very sick person, you understand. If you're eligible to give, it's really a generous thing to do, and the American Red Cross makes it very easy. You can locate a blood drive and sign up online, it absolutely doesn't hurt, the nurses are nice and skilled, the whole process takes only a few minutes, and you even get a snack afterward (I donated at the Jennersville Y, and the snacks were very kindly donated by Herrs).
Hint: Drink a lot of water ahead of time. It expedites the donation process.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Anniversary
It's been a year since I've started monopolizing page A3 of the Kennett Paper, and what fun it has been! People have told me that they've heard folks talking about "Tilda" everywhere from the hunt field to the nail salon to PTO meetings, so I guess I'm doing something right.
I started writing this column partly in response to all the mean, snarky, smart-alecky blogs out there. In contrast, I try to be even-handed and charitable in everything I write -- if I have a bad meal at a restaurant, for instance, I won't trash somebody's livelihood, I simply won't write about the place.
But, as you've doubtless noticed, neither do I shy away from covering our local controversies (and goodness knows there are plenty). I realize I'm not going to please everybody; that just comes with the territory and the wonderfully opinionated, vital, distinctive people who live here.
Thanks, readers, for slogging through updates about my garden and for putting up with my ill-concealed boasting about my family members. Thank you so much for offering all of your comments and suggestions, and a special thanks to everyone who regularly supplies me with such superb items!
I started writing this column partly in response to all the mean, snarky, smart-alecky blogs out there. In contrast, I try to be even-handed and charitable in everything I write -- if I have a bad meal at a restaurant, for instance, I won't trash somebody's livelihood, I simply won't write about the place.
But, as you've doubtless noticed, neither do I shy away from covering our local controversies (and goodness knows there are plenty). I realize I'm not going to please everybody; that just comes with the territory and the wonderfully opinionated, vital, distinctive people who live here.
Thanks, readers, for slogging through updates about my garden and for putting up with my ill-concealed boasting about my family members. Thank you so much for offering all of your comments and suggestions, and a special thanks to everyone who regularly supplies me with such superb items!
More fungus
Have you noticed the fascinating fungi that have been springing up with all this rain? A bright-orange dog stinkhorn, probably eight inches tall, arose overnight in the middle of my nasturtiums. A plethora of puffballs, from barely-there to saucer size, are scattered around the lawn in places I've never seen them before.
At a friend's farm a circle of picture-perfect toadstools surrounds a maple tree; a bearded gnome would look perfectly at home. And I spotted some perfectly white little nubbins just starting to sprout in her manure pit; the mature fungus resembled a sea urchin.
And while we're talking about growing things, let me take this opportunity to commend Burpee for its "Mammoth" brand of sunflower seeds. My sunflowers this summer are beautiful, and without question the tallest I've ever grown. I would guess some of them are 12 feet tall.
At a friend's farm a circle of picture-perfect toadstools surrounds a maple tree; a bearded gnome would look perfectly at home. And I spotted some perfectly white little nubbins just starting to sprout in her manure pit; the mature fungus resembled a sea urchin.
And while we're talking about growing things, let me take this opportunity to commend Burpee for its "Mammoth" brand of sunflower seeds. My sunflowers this summer are beautiful, and without question the tallest I've ever grown. I would guess some of them are 12 feet tall.
Later
The Doe Run Farm conditional-use hearings scheduled for Aug. 25 were postponed at the request of Richard Hayne's representatives. No new date has been set. The two hearings were for "processing of cheese and yogurt" and "processing of vegetables of preserves" at the Springdell farm.
Unfortunately, a reporter friend didn't get the word that the hearing was postponed and showed up at the township hall anyway. She phoned me at 7:10 p.m. wondering where everyone was.
I explained, and then suggested the obvious alternative course of action: let's go have a drink at the Whip! Which we did.
Unfortunately, a reporter friend didn't get the word that the hearing was postponed and showed up at the township hall anyway. She phoned me at 7:10 p.m. wondering where everyone was.
I explained, and then suggested the obvious alternative course of action: let's go have a drink at the Whip! Which we did.
The earth didn't move
Forgive Tilda if she is slightly peeved ... but she completely missed the earthquake! I was out running errands; first I popped by the Kennett library to pick up some DVDs and then I went to Baily's Dairy in Pocopson. As soon as I left Baily's with my milk and peaches, my cell phone rang. It was my reporter pal Mike calling from West Chester to find out if the quake had hit Unionville.
I told him I certainly hadn't noticed anything, but I would find out.
What I did feel was a sinking sensation that I had totally missed a Really Newsworthy Event.
Sure enough, I stopped by a Unionville office on the way home.
"Did you feel it?!" one of the staffers asked without preamble as I walked in.
Another arrived a few minutes later in a state of breathless excitement; she'd been shopping at Walmart over her lunch break and felt the trembling.
The hideous sinking sensation continued as I read on Facebook a stream of juicy earthquake stories from not only Chester County friends but also those as far away as Asheville, Oneida, NY, and Wilkes-Barre.
Several friends compared the sensation to the vibration from a washing machine on spin cycle. Another said it felt like a heavy truck flying by, or workers on the roof.
Or, as one Kennett friend summarized: "Was way cool!" (Yeah. Thanks for sharing, Karen.)
But I took comfort in the fact that there were several of us who, like me, were in cars, or outside, and missed it. So unfair!
It seems that most people's pets, if they reacted at all, were simply startled by the quake. But a family member's cat seemed to sense that it was coming: just before the quake she flattened herself on the kitchen floor, as low as possible, and looked utterly terrified.
I told him I certainly hadn't noticed anything, but I would find out.
What I did feel was a sinking sensation that I had totally missed a Really Newsworthy Event.
Sure enough, I stopped by a Unionville office on the way home.
"Did you feel it?!" one of the staffers asked without preamble as I walked in.
Another arrived a few minutes later in a state of breathless excitement; she'd been shopping at Walmart over her lunch break and felt the trembling.
The hideous sinking sensation continued as I read on Facebook a stream of juicy earthquake stories from not only Chester County friends but also those as far away as Asheville, Oneida, NY, and Wilkes-Barre.
Several friends compared the sensation to the vibration from a washing machine on spin cycle. Another said it felt like a heavy truck flying by, or workers on the roof.
Or, as one Kennett friend summarized: "Was way cool!" (Yeah. Thanks for sharing, Karen.)
But I took comfort in the fact that there were several of us who, like me, were in cars, or outside, and missed it. So unfair!
It seems that most people's pets, if they reacted at all, were simply startled by the quake. But a family member's cat seemed to sense that it was coming: just before the quake she flattened herself on the kitchen floor, as low as possible, and looked utterly terrified.
Green and White
Celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz is a Tower Hill School graduate! He went on to Harvard for his undergraduate degree and then earned a joint MD and MBA from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Wharton School. In addition to being an author and TV personality, he's also a cardiothoracic surgeon and a father of four.
(Thanks to the mom of another Tower Hill grad for this bit of trivia.)
(Thanks to the mom of another Tower Hill grad for this bit of trivia.)
Carpet
A friend who is an avid bargain-hunter couldn't wait to tell me about the beautiful Oriental rug she bought at a West Chester community garage sale last Saturday.
She wasn't looking for a carpet, but out of curiosity asked the seller to unroll it for her. The size (five by eight) and colors (beige and red) won her over -- as well as the seller's Southern accent and blue eyes, she confessed. The asking price for the 100% wool, made-in-Iran carpet was $80; she got it for $65. It's now in the foyer of her East Marlborough house.
When she asked about its provenance, the seller told her he had the carpet in his house before he got married, but when it came time to combine his household with his wife's, not everything would fit into their new home. My friend said this is a story she often hears at garage sales because people are getting married later in life, after they've established households.
She wasn't looking for a carpet, but out of curiosity asked the seller to unroll it for her. The size (five by eight) and colors (beige and red) won her over -- as well as the seller's Southern accent and blue eyes, she confessed. The asking price for the 100% wool, made-in-Iran carpet was $80; she got it for $65. It's now in the foyer of her East Marlborough house.
When she asked about its provenance, the seller told her he had the carpet in his house before he got married, but when it came time to combine his household with his wife's, not everything would fit into their new home. My friend said this is a story she often hears at garage sales because people are getting married later in life, after they've established households.
Logistics
Once the foxhunting bug bites, the effects are chronic. Consider:
1. An avid foxhunter announced to her friends that she had just gotten engaged, and naturally they asked about her wedding plans. It went without saying that she'd wait until at least next April, after hunting season was over.
2. Because of bridge construction, another foxhunting friend is obliged to turn left out of her driveway instead of right. It's a tricky turn to make even with a car, between two steep embankments, much less when you're heading out before dawn hauling a trailer.
Foregoing hunting during the month-long bridge repair was, of course, unthinkable. First she got a quote from an excavator to widen the driveway, but she and her husband balked at the price.
So, being a resourceful soul, she pinpointed the exact spot at which she needs to cut the wheel so that she doesn't send her rig plummeting into the creek on the other side of the one-lane road. She marked the spot by erecting a tomato stake with a CD duct-taped to it. The moment her headlights catch the CD, she makes the turn and is on her way.
1. An avid foxhunter announced to her friends that she had just gotten engaged, and naturally they asked about her wedding plans. It went without saying that she'd wait until at least next April, after hunting season was over.
2. Because of bridge construction, another foxhunting friend is obliged to turn left out of her driveway instead of right. It's a tricky turn to make even with a car, between two steep embankments, much less when you're heading out before dawn hauling a trailer.
Foregoing hunting during the month-long bridge repair was, of course, unthinkable. First she got a quote from an excavator to widen the driveway, but she and her husband balked at the price.
So, being a resourceful soul, she pinpointed the exact spot at which she needs to cut the wheel so that she doesn't send her rig plummeting into the creek on the other side of the one-lane road. She marked the spot by erecting a tomato stake with a CD duct-taped to it. The moment her headlights catch the CD, she makes the turn and is on her way.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
In the mail
Two interesting pieces of snail mail this week:
1) A letter from PECO saying that its residential heating discounts are being phased out in 2012. Perhaps coincidentally, I noticed that Lowe's has a large display of portable heaters already on the sales floor.
2) A postcard from the Unionville Chadds Ford Education Association giving the union's version of the ongoing labor negotiations. I hope an English teacher wasn't involved in writing it; one sentence reads, "UCFEA is the first and foremost proud of our students and their accomplishments."
1) A letter from PECO saying that its residential heating discounts are being phased out in 2012. Perhaps coincidentally, I noticed that Lowe's has a large display of portable heaters already on the sales floor.
2) A postcard from the Unionville Chadds Ford Education Association giving the union's version of the ongoing labor negotiations. I hope an English teacher wasn't involved in writing it; one sentence reads, "UCFEA is the first and foremost proud of our students and their accomplishments."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)